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Tech budgets in schools heading north again

Our children will have tabs, desktops and digital content

The amount of money schools splash on tech is on the up despite the government putting an end to ring-fenced spending for ICT a year ago, a study by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) has found.

According to the UK survey of 766 primary and 551 secondary schools conducted in July, budgets are looking likely to rise 2.1 per cent on average in the current fiscal year ending March.

This is a vastly different picture from the gloomy findings of a year ago when ICT expenditure was slid 4.1 per cent and 6.8 per cent respectively in primary and secondary schools in fiscal 2012.

A financial fur ball of £246.5m will be coughed this fiscal year by schools with 43 per cent primary and 47 per cent of secondary budgets directed towards hardware - specifically desktop, laptops and tabs.

This is still lower than tech spending under the previous government, which peaked at £275m in the fiscal year ended March 2009.

Digital content budgets are expected to to be worth nearly £50m and rise to £52.5m from the next financial year.

And this spending trend is no flash in the pan, said BESA, as the cash pot for ICT is estimated to climb by 3.3 per cent in primary schools and 2.8 per cent in secondary institutions in fiscal 2013/14. ®